From the natural oddity of something as simple as a smell being able to transport you to another time and place, to the equally resonant, but less odd, ability of the story of one life can paint a whole landscape, in broad strokes and minute detail, of a time long past...
Farewell Doreen Hawkins;actress, wife and mother
she travelled half way round the globe to find her lifetime's other
she began as a simple country girl and through dysentery, death and doom journeyed into womanhood
and in the meantime was instrumental in sending Peter Cushing off to Hollywood
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/10149120/Doreen-Hawkins.html
"...Even if this book had been a duller one, it would have been well worth writing. It gives a uniquely detailed documentary account of life in a war time entertainment company of which fewer and fewer people can have first-hand memories. Doreen Hawkins memory is quite simply phenomenal; her story far from dull. It is romantic, often drily humorous, also dramatic, moving and at times horrific with near-death, illness and nightmare journeys on primitive trains and packed troopships; war continually raging in the background.
Doreen herself seems an admirable character - starting as an exuberant stagestruck girl, briefly engaged to an equally exuberant Peter Cushing. She inevitably matures with her marriage breakdown and gruelling wartime experiences but seldom complains and never loses her wide-eyed curiosity.
From her brief comments on her craft, I imagine she was a charming, skilful light comedy actress; her company providing sparkling entertainment for exhausted and wounded troops.
Her eye for detail is outstanding - whether describing revolting food or glamorous clothes. Her unpretentious writing brings past events back to life as fresh as if they had happened yesterday..."
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/books/article-1204226/The-DRURY-LANE-TO-DIMAPUR-BY-DOREEN-HAWKINS.html
Amazon...
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Drury-Lane-Dimapur-Wartime-Adventures/dp/1904349668